Cyclone Tauktae

19 May 2025

<h1 dir="ltr" style="text-align:center">Cyclone Tauktae</h1>   Cyclone Tauktae ( Tau-Te), is an exceptionally serious cyclonic tempest (VSCS), that is created in the Arabian Sea, and is said to hit southern Gujarat on Tuesday. Lately, strong cyclones have been creating in the Arabian Sea more often than before.    <img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qPGmADOMt16STrl9BxaPVOfwQi8J-ieIe_BkRrbid4ykpN5UCafwC2ZkvE_Wp6EZt4lwAKSwaVHoOPh7IYwHugF5p3wonbZUpwTMEbIMwydUCHld2RhesQMLzXiwKrmv9-JTbahs" style="height:404px; width:602px" /> (Tauktae effect in Goa)   <h2 dir="ltr">What is the forecast? </h2> As of 5.30 pm on Sunday, Cyclone Tauktae lay more than 190 km northwest of Panjim, 510 km south-southeast of Veraval, 270 km south-southwest of Mumbai, 470 km south-southeast of Diu, and 700 km southeast of Karachi. The cyclone is expected to escalate further in the next 24 hours.  According to the most recent forecast, Tauktae will cross near Porbandar and Mahuva in Gujarat's Bhavnagar region as a Very Severe Cyclone (VSCS) during the early long stretches of Tuesday, with a normal breeze speed of 150-160 km/hr blasting to 175 km/hr.   <img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HM2wMfQHSMKQ5h_eFP4lYtuGVnGjCkAUKAaLB9ZDl2Ih5EaFbSlHW3n-Vp0FEN3qTtusJxotaromxyVSZw2u7MvOqf2Vzsc0d_61TA85xbcWYUR6UZX8MXM79G4ing2i_hkPaEkF" style="height:713px; width:435px" /> (The Hindu)   <h2 dir="ltr">Why is it different from other cyclones? </h2> Tauktae is the fourth cyclone to have been created in the Arabian Sea, that too in the pre-storm period (April to June). Every one of these cyclones since 2018 have been sorted either 'Serious Cyclone' or above. When Tauktae makes its landfall, three of these will have hit either the Gujarat or Maharashtra coast, after Cyclone Mekanu in 2018, which struck Oman, Cyclone Vayu in 2019 struck Gujarat, followed by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020 that struck Maharashtra.  Tauktae has been escalating quickly. From a downturn shaped in the southeast Arabian Sea on the morning of 14 May, it falled into a VSCS category by the early long periods of May 16. Contrasted with Tauktae's 2 days, Cyclone Vayu had taken a day and a half to turn into a VSCS, while Cyclone Mekanu (4 days) and Cyclone Nisarga (5 days) had grown more slowly.  Additionally, the primary cyclones to shape in 2020 and 2021 were in the Arabian Sea during the pre-storm time frame, both in the VSCS classification.   <h3 dir="ltr">What is supporting such a quick escalation of Tauktae? </h3> Any hurricane requires energy to remain alive. This energy is regularly acquired from warm water and muggy air over the tropical sea. At present, ocean water up to profundities of 50 meters has been exceptionally warm, providing plentiful energy to empower the increase of Cyclone Tauktae.  The more the warmth released through condensation of water fume, the more extreme the drop in pressure. A low-pressure framework goes through numerous phases of intensification to shape typhoons.  Regularly, typhoons in the North Indian Ocean locale (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) create during the pre-rainstorm and post-storm (October to December) periods. May-June and October-November are known to deliver tornadoes of extreme power that influence the Indian coasts.   Yearly, five cyclones are formed on an average in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Of these, four are created in the Bay of Bengal, which is hotter than the Arabian Sea. In the Arabian Sea, cyclones commonly create over Lakshadweep region and generally cross westwards, or away from India's west coast.  But, as of late, meteorologists have seen that the Arabian Sea, as well, has been warming. And thus creating cyclones like Tauktae and Vayu. This is a wonder related to an unnatural weather change, that we call global warming. Recently there have been plenty of examples and warnings that nature gave us to get our acts together. One such example is Kerala flood 2018. And who can forget the infamous Kedarnath disaster in 2013 which caused more than 10,000 deaths, many bodies were never found. In hindsight even a layman can boil down all such events to the inhumane act of humans towards nature. One cannot altogether scrap natural disasters but we can surely take some serious actions to reduce the damage.